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A quantum many-body system’s equilibrium behaviour is described by its partition function, which is hard to compute. Now it has been shown that the easier task of finding an approximation could define a distinct class of computational problems.
Properties of relaxor ferroelectrics are governed by polar nanodomains. Polarization rotation facilitated by these domains investigated by means of epitaxial strain reveals a competition between chemistry-driven disorder and strain-driven order.
Many important cellular structures in the body are curved at the scale of multiple cell lengths. Cells respond collectively to this curvature, and it influences their migration during development and growth.
Cervix and breast carcinomas are highly heterogeneous in their mechanical properties across scales. This heterogeneity provides the tumour with stability and room for cell motility.
Shot noise has traditionally been used to measure the charge of quasiparticles in a variety of mesoscopic systems. However, at sufficiently low temperatures, this usual notion tends to break down for fractional quantum Hall effect states.
Unconventional quasiparticles carrying spin but not electric charge emerge in quantum spin liquid phases. The Kondo interaction of these spinon quasiparticles with magnetic impurities may now have been observed.
Periodic kicking of a quantum system leads to dynamical localization and to the failure of thermalization. Measurements on a kicked Bose–Einstein condensate now show how many-body interactions induce the breakdown of dynamical localization.
The quantum kicked rotor is a paradigmatic non-interacting model of quantum chaos and ergodicity breaking. An experiment with a kicked Bose–Einstein condensate now explores the influence of many-body interactions on the onset of quantum chaos.
A Mott insulator forms when strong interactions between particles cause them to become localized. A cold atom simulator has now been used to realize a selective Mott insulator in which atoms are localized or propagating depending on their spin state.
As laser action emerges from fluorescence, its emission wavelength lies within the fluorescence spectrum. Exploiting multiphonon processes can take the laser emission far beyond the spectral limits defined by a material’s intrinsic fluorescence.
Numerical studies have predicted that solids at extremely high pressures should exhibit changes in structure driven by quantum mechanical effects. These predictions have now been verified in magnesium.
Entanglement entropy between two parts of a quantum state generally grows with volume, but for one-dimensional and some two-dimensional ground states, it scales with area. An area law has now been proven for a related metric in any dimension or geometry.
Strongly correlated topological materials are hard to identify. Now a design principle suggests a method for producing many topological metals where strong electron–electron interactions are a driving force.
The coherent dynamics of the transverse-field Ising model driven through a quantum phase transition can be accurately simulated using a large-scale quantum annealer.
Under certain conditions, contact electrification can lead to heterogeneous surface charge distributions—charge mosaics. Experiments and theory now show that these arise from electrostatic discharges between disjoining surfaces.
Efficient interactions between two photons is a challenging requirement for quantum information processing. A quantum dot coupled to a waveguide produces strong interactions that can induce photon correlations and reshape two-photon wavepackets.
A cold-atom simulator has realized a popular many-body model of quantum magnetism in regimes that cannot be easily studied theoretically, achieving the record-coldest fermions ever seen.
Wrinkling happens because of mechanical instabilities arising from length mismatches. A theory now describes wrinkling in confined elastic shells and is expected to be relevant for the controlled design of complex wrinkle patterns.
In experiments with a levitated force sensor, no signatures of a fifth force are detected. This rules out the basic chameleon model, which is a popular theory providing an explanation for dark energy.
Nitrogen vacancy centres close to the surface of diamonds are a key component of quantum sensing technologies. Using an atomic force microscope to manipulate the surface electrostatic environment can significantly improve the sensing performance.